


Bring Him Hope (Bring Him Home)

by emrys (livingshitpost)



Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: 'emrys this is a fantasy let things be solved w magic' no fuck u, 'emrys this is too many tags' yeah i know. i know bryan., ? - Freeform, Aftermath of Torture, Age Regression, Age Regression/De-Aging, Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Animal Instincts, Animal Traits, Animalistic, Child Regression, Dissociation, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Family Reunions, Feral Behavior, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Injury Recovery, Loss, Loss of Control, Loss of Identity, M/M, Major Character Injury, Memory Loss, Mental Health Issues, Multiple Personalities, Night Terrors, Nightmares, No Incest, No Sex, Non-Sexual, Nonsexual, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Past Torture, Permanent Injury, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Recovery, Reunions, Slice of Life, Varian Wrynn Lives, but here we are ig, gay king? gay king, i care a lot abt varian ok, i flipped through scriptmedic and uh.. hm, i might add more to this but it's all done fr now, i miiiiiiiiiiight have som varigenn in this later. idk ladsjflajslkdfjalskdfj, look at me writing fic of a fic alkdsjklfajsdkflj, loss doesn't look like a real word anymore oops, magic doesn't solve everything lads, they can be helped but Bad Things Will Happen Christopher, this wasn't supposed to become a miniseries, whoops lmaooo, ya fuckin nasties
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-02-11 00:05:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12923046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livingshitpost/pseuds/emrys
Summary: Anduin is reunited with his father.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Survivor's Remorse](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8800933) by [Dragomir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragomir/pseuds/Dragomir). 



> i try to be patient but I'm Not ok

When word reached Stormwind that the late Varian Wrynn had been found alive in Grand Magistrix Elisande's chambers, significant efforts were made to keep it from the King. Anduin, of course, still a curious and bullheaded boy at heart, found out anyway. His breath caught in his throat. His hands shook. He covered his mouth and all but fell to his knees as he listened to Genn whisper with the champion who had found him. He fled the corridor, of course, before the conversation was even over, and locked himself away in his room. He pulled his hands through his hair.

He wanted to scream.

Instead, he found laughter bubbling from his chest. He slid down against the door and laughed and laughed and laughed until he was crying and he couldn't stop even if he wanted to, and he didn't, even though he wasn't sure why he was laughing like this.

Eventually, he'd shed all the tears in his heart, his laughter had settled to giggles, and he felt light,  _truly_ light, for the first time in months.

His father was  _alive_. 

-=-

Despite knowing what was coming, it still caught Anduin off-guard when he saw the man he knew to be his father quickly escorted through the keep. He was dressed only sparingly, with a large cloak covering most of him, and his entire frame seemed smaller, somehow. But he didn't press the issue when a guard told him not to worry about it. 

He knew. He knew. He  _knew._ That was all that he needed for the moment.

-=-

"Your Majesty," one of the guards said, "I need for you to follow me."

He glanced at her for a moment, confused, but quickly remembered and did as he was asked.

"I've been asked to warn you that this will be a bit of a shock," she said as they stopped in front of what used to be his bedroom. "Well, more than a bit, but that's what I was told to say."

"I'll consider myself warned," Anduin replied.

The guard nodded and knocked gently on the door before opening it.

There sat Genn, speaking softly to Varian as though he were a kicked dog, and Varian, curling in on himself with his arms around his knees and a growl deep in his throat.

Anduin's heart nearly stopped. Varian's frame  _was_ smaller. He was merely skin and bones, cheeks and eyes sunken, his entire form emaciated. His hair had apparently been a lost cause. It barely reached his shoulders now. The former king of Stormwind, the former High King of the Alliance, was but a shell of his old self.

He stepped forward slowly, backing away slightly when Varian's growling grew louder. The guard drew her sword, but Anduin cast her a cold glare over his shoulder. He softened his expression again as he continued toward his father, flicking his head to tell Genn to back away, and the worgen did.

"Father?"

Varian's knuckles turned white.

Anduin's tongue felt thick and dry.

"Varian?"

No reaction.

Anduin thought back to what Bolvar had told him when his father returned from the Crimson Ring.

". . . Lo'gosh."

Varian's eyes widened. His growl softened into a whine.

"Lo'gosh, it's Anduin." He slowly raised his hand. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe."

Varian untangled his limbs from in front of him. He leaned forward slightly, bumping his head against Anduin's palm. His shoulders shook.

Anduin gently ruffled his father's hair. "You're safe," he said softly, choking on the lump rising in his throat. "You're safe."


	2. Chapter 2

Though Varian had returned, Anduin was not relieved of his throne.

He couldn't be.

Varian stayed in what was now his room for much of the day and night. He had taken to moving about on all fours and refusing to bathe, so in addition to running the city-state of Stormwind and the Alliance, Anduin shouldered the responsibility of caring for his father. He pulled Varian to his feet, speaking to him softly as he did when he spoke to the children at the orphanage on the weekends. He sat with him and pet his hair while he was in the bath. He encouraged his father to speak, waiting patiently as he stammered and muttered his quiet words.

"Lo'gosh," Anduin would say when his father rested his head on his knee, "it's alright. He shifted to kneel on the ground and look Varian in the eye. "It's okay."

But Varian, more often than not, would lower himself further, going as far as to lay on the cold, stone floor to rest his head on his son's thigh.

Anduin would often sigh through his nose, trying not to let his father, already beaten and broken, see his disappointment. 

-=-

"I'm not sure what to do," he confessed to Velen one day. "I'm glad he's back, but he's so different. It makes sense, of course, I'm not angry with him—far from it—but . . . It's hard."

"I know, Anduin. I know. It's difficult for all of us. But I can only imagine how you are affected by this."

"I just want to help him."

"I know you do. And you're doing a wonderful job. We just need to be patient."

(Anduin wasn't sure how he felt when he saw Velen scratching his father behind the ears like a dog.)

-=-

"F- ah, Lo'gosh?"

Varian looked up from the apple he had been eating on the floor of his room.

"What are you doing?"

". . . hungry," Varian mumbled.

"You don't have to hide it, you know." Anduin approached slowly, picked up the apple, and put it in Varian's hand. "You're more than welcome to eat. Do you understand that?"

Varian cast his gaze down and shook his head. "N-no."

"Then I'll help you understand." He adjusted himself to sit more comfortably, leaning against the bed frame. "Is that enough for you?"

Varian nodded. He took a bite, juice dribbling down his chin. Anduin chuckled and wiped it away.

-=-

Anduin took to singing to his father when he woke up thrashing, yelling, crying, fighting. Old songs. Songs he could just barely remember from when he was young. He held the Light in his hands and let the gentle melody soothe his father and himself. Varian seemed to remember, sometimes humming along, sometimes mumbling the lyrics with his son. But sometimes he just listened. He curled into Anduin like a child to his mother and, once he had fallen back asleep, the king couldn't find it in himself to leave him.

-=-

"Papa?"

Anduin didn't respond at first.

Varian tugged Anduin's sleeve. "Papa?"

Anduin turned. "Varian?"

"My shoulder hurts again."

"I'll be there in a moment."

This was hardly strange anymore. It had been weeks since Varian had begun to regress. It was difficult, at first (of course it was difficult, everything was difficult, there wasn't a damn thing about this that wasn't difficult somehow), but he had grown accustomed to it. And, though he wouldn't say it outright, he rather preferred his father when he was regressed and fully human and speaking.

"Hold still, okay?"

Varian nodded.

Anduin held the Light between his hands and stretched it over Varian's shoulder, one hand on his chest and the other on his back, where thick, faintly green scars were all that visibly remained. Varian hummed appreciatively. 

"How's that?"

"Better." Varian let his shoulders slump. "Up a little."

Anduin moved his hands accordingly. "You're very brave, Varian," he said.

"I am?"

"Yes. I can only imagine how much these hurt. But you deal with them so well." It was strange talking to his father like this, but right now, it seemed that his father was slowly becoming his son. "I'm proud of you."

Varian smiled and closed his eyes, leaning into Anduin's chest. "Thanks, Papa."

-=-

"Don't touch me."

Anduin listened to his father talking in his sleep from the doorway.

"Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me,  _don't touch me, don't touch me_ –"

"Varian?" Anduin began to enter the room. "Lo'gosh?"

"Don't touch me, don't fucking touch me, don't touch me, get away from me, I'll kill you, don't touch me–"

"Lo'gosh, wake up," Anduin said, summoning the Light in one hand as he stepped closer.

There was meat, raw meat, human meat elf meat orc meat dwarf meat troll meat burning people burning and he was choking on it choking on fel  _fel_ the stench of fel it was all around him–

"Please," he choked, " _please._ _Don't hurt my son._ "

Anduin's heart stopped for a moment. He took his father by the shoulders and shook him. "Father, wake up!"

"Don't hurt him!" Varian howled. "Don't hurt him, don't hurt him!"

"Father!"

There was a flash of light, and a scream from the former High King, and then quiet.

Anduin stared in silence at Varian. The man's breathing was shallow and quick, but the boy kept his steady, even though it shook.

"A . . . An-Anduin?"

"Yes, Father. It's me. It's your son. It's Anduin." He leaned back slightly. "You're safe."

Varian wrapped his arms around Anduin's neck and pulled him down into a bear hug.

"I'm sorr-sorry."

Anduin returned the gesture as best he could.

"Don't be. Please, don't be sorry, Father."

"C-couldn't even . . . die right."

"Shh, it's alright. I'm glad you didn't die. It's alright."

"'M pathetic. . . ."

"You're not, Father. You're so incredibly strong."

"I-I  _killed_ you."

"You didn't, Father, I'm right here. I'm alive and so are you and I'm so glad for that. It's alright. It's okay."

Varian's nails dug into Anduin's back through his thin linen shirt, but Anduin didn't say anything.

"It's alright. You're safe. We're both safe. We're okay."

"I'm s-sorry, M-Ma-Master . . ."

"Shh. I'm not your master. You don't need to be sorry. You've done so much for everyone."

Anduin turned and pulled Varian into a sitting position.

"Elor bindel, morin'aminor, lende anu, shorel'aran . . . "

"A-ann'da an-nore, s . . . selama . . . ashal-l'anore . . ."

"Good, that's it. Diel shala, anu-"

"B-bala, ana-ar'ala-ah."

"Ash'thero'dalah'dor . . ."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know why i keep writing this it was fine where it ended before but,,, i just keep having ideas ajkldsjflasdflj  
> (also i got the lyrics from [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfuwKC1XQgo))


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: looks at good and nice fic  
> me: hmm,, how can i make this worse  
> me:

"Is he alright?"

"No."

Anduin spoke in hushed tones in the hall outside Varian's room.

"What happened to him? I thought he . . . you know-"

"Yes, I know. You made me a shirt. And, _no_ , I don't still have it. It was much too soon for you to be making that joke."

"Yes, I understand that now. You made that very clear when you punched me in the nose."

Anduin chuckled at the memory, but his smile fell quickly.

"Gul'dan kept him alive," Anduin said. "As a prisoner." He folded his arms. "As a trophy." He spat the word like venom. "He was barely surviving. Light only knows exactly what he went through." He leaned against the wall with a sigh. "He'll never be the same again, but I have to help him. He's my father."

"You're a good son."

Anduin smiled half-heartedly. "I'm just doing what I feel is right."

"Well, what _I_ feel is right is getting _you_ to your chambers and making sure that your needs are attended."

" _Wrathion_."

"What? I didn't specify that they had to be your _sexual_ needs."

Anduin stifled a laugh behind one hand, intertwining the other with Wrathion's and following him to their room.

-=-

Anduin startled awake, summoning a bubble of light around himself and ready to smite anyone lurking in the shadows of his chambers.

"Anduin?"

The King's breaths were shaky and ragged.

Wrathion reached up and put a hand on his husband's shoulder, gently pulling him back down to the bed.

"What's wrong?"

Anduin swallowed, allowing the shield to dispel itself. "It's nothing," he mumbled. "Go back to sleep."

"I smell bullshit. Come on, Anduin, this is the third night in a row."

Anduin sighed. "Alright, alright. Fine. I-" He turned to lay on his side. "I told you about the first time my father died, right? When he actually,  _really_ died?"

Wrathion nodded.

"It just . . ." He sighed again, curling into Wrathion's chest. "It keeps coming back to me. It's like it's haunting me. Except every time, it just gets worse."

Wrathon silently draped an arm over Anduin and played with his hair.

"First I couldn't bring him back. Then I would die, too. Now . . ." He seemed to collapse in on himself. "Now he was Varian. Little Varian. Not my father, not Lo'gosh, but he was a child in the body of a man and I couldn't protect him."

Wrathion kissed the top of Anduin's head. "That won't happen," he said softly. "I know you. You're just as strong as he is—maybe even more so, though not in the same way—and just as stubborn. You'll keep him safe. And you won't be alone in it, either." He pulled back and tilted Anduin's chin up to look him in the eye. "I'm here with you. And so are Genn, and Velen, and every other member of the Alliance. Do you understand that?"

Anduin reached up to wipe his eyes. "Yes," he said, "I understand."

"Good." Wrathion wriggled down to plant a gentle kiss on Anduin's lips. 

"I love you."

"I know you do."

Anduin playfully bumped his forehead against Wrathion's.

"Ah, oh no, I've been defeated. The valiant king has slain the dragon, blehhhhh."

"Indeed he has, and now he's going to use the dragon as a big pillow for snuggling purposes."

"The dragon can't say he's opposed to that."

-=-

Varian and Lo'gosh were easy enough to tell apart. Varian was a child in the body of a man; Lo'gosh was a man in the mind of a wolf in the body of a man. Varian made easy conversation with the guards and attendants of the Keep; Lo'gosh mostly stayed in his room to eat what he'd smuggled from the kitchens. Varian followed Anduin because he was curious; Lo'gosh followed Anduin because he felt obligated to stay at the side of his master (not master not master not master not master not even master-not-master _not master not master_ ).

What made things difficult was when the two of them stepped aside, and Anduin's father returned.

"Anduin. You look stressed."

"I am, Lo'gosh," Anduin mumbled in reply.

Varian paused. "Excuse me?"

Anduin looked up from his coffee. "Oh. Oh! Right. Sorry. I'm just tired, is all. No need to worry."

"Too late for that," Varian said. "Is that my paperwork?"

"Uh, yeah." Anduin shuffled a few stacks of paper. "I know how much you hate doing it, so I figured I'd take care of it."

"I appreciate that, but what you need to be taking care of is yourself."

Anduin waved his hand. "I'm fine. Honest."

Varian scowled. "I know when you're lying, Anduin Llane."

Anduin cleared his throat. "Wow. Pulling out the middle name. I sure am in trouble now, aren't I?"

"Of course you aren't. I just want to know what's going on."

"Right. Well-"

"Is your leg acting up again?"

"What? No, my leg is fine."

"Andy, you know you can tell me if it is. I just want-"

"I know, Father. It's just— Well, you see-"

"Wait."

Wrathion, who had been coming in to retrieve his Steamy Romance Novel, froze mid-step.

"What is he doing here?"

"Father, I-"

"Why is there a _black dragon_ in my Keep?"

" _Father_ -"

"He should not even be in this city." He reached for Shalamayne with his left hand, only to find his fingers numb and struggling to get a grip on the wooden practice sword on his back.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Anduin held his hands in front of him. "Father, let me explain-"

"No!" Varian ran at Wrathion, who quickly took on his whelpling form and flew high up onto a rafter.

"Coward!"

Wrathion tried (without success) to hide himself.

Varian clumsily threw the sword at Wrathion, just barely managing to hit his tail, and watched the wooden toy clatter to the floor. There were tears in his eyes as he turned to glare at his son.

" _What the fuck happened to me_?"

Anduin approached to retrieve the practice sword from the ground. "A little over two years ago, we faced off against the Legion on the Broken Shore. Do you remember that?"

"Of course I do."

Anduin shifted uncomfortably. "Well, five months ago, you were found in the private quarters of Grand Magistrix Elisande. Do you remember that?"

Varian looked down, shaking his head, as though trying to dislodge the memory.

"We took you home," Anduin continued. "Or, rather, the Champion did." Anduin carefully put his hand on his father's shoulder. "You were hurt. Badly. I did what I could—we all did—but we weren't able to fully restore the functionality of your arm." He sighed. "For the most part, you've been alternating between states of childlike regression and, well, Lo'gosh, since you got back."

Varian looked down at his left hand. He slowly curled it into a fist, then looked back up at Anduin.

"I was gone for more than a year and a half."

Anduin nodded. "I was already king by the time we found you. We had all assumed you were killed. And between your regressed state and your defensive hermit state, it was clear that you weren't fit to be king anymore."

Varian let out a shaky sigh, staring hard at the floor and fighting tears.

"I'm sorry, Father."

The late King Varian Wrynn had not been known to weep.

But he wasn't the late King Varian Wrynn now; was he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: there we go


	4. Chapter 4

"Andy?"

The king perked up upon hearing his father's nickname for him. He turned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Good evening," he mumbled. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"Can't sleep." Varian shuffled into the room. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all. I'm just trying to get some of this done before I lose the motivation." He picked up his pen and absently bit his nails.

"We're much lower on funds than I remember."

Anduin hummed in agreement as he went about his business. "That's how memorials get built, Father. And it only costs more to tear them down. Especially with the way things went on the Broken Isles and Argus." He signed one of the documents in a single fluid motion, only stopping to dot the "i" in his name. "Besides." He put the parchment on top of a small, but quickly growing stack. "Although  _you_ aren't resting there, being the lion in Lion's Rest, I would think that every other member of the Alliance who died that day is a lion in their own right." He paused. "Every soldier who's ever fought and died for Azeroth is."

Varian smiled. "It's no wonder the people love you," he said. "You have a wonderful way with words."

"Well," the king replied with a smirk, "as much as I would love to say that I learned from the best . . ."

Varian laughed at that.

(Light, it had been so _long_ since Anduin had heard his father laugh.)

"Alright, alright, I'll give you that."

"You walked right into it. You practically set it up."

The two of them laughed about it for a moment. Although it eventually faded into a comfortable silence, their smiles stayed.

"Andy," Varian said after a while, "I want to tell you something."

"Hm?"

"It's about my states, as you call them."

"Oh." Anduin's grip on his pen tightened slightly. "Of course." He set it down and shuffled a few papers to the side. "Yes, what- what is it?"

"You remember your history lessons, right? About your grandfather, Llane?"

Anduin nodded. "He was killed by Garona Halforcen. I remember."

"Well, there's something I didn't tell you." He shifted uncomfortably. "I was there when she did it."

(Anduin suddenly remembered what it had been like to watch his father's chest be pierced by that adamantium shard. It felt like a lifetime ago.)

Varian sighed through his nose and looked at his hands. "A while after that, I began to recognize another person living within me." He bit his lip slightly. "Little Vari has been with me for the majority of my life."

Anduin was quiet for a moment, thinking carefully before he spoke. "So," he said softly, "those times when you just . . . started crying-"

"Most of those were Vari, yes."

"Hm." Anduin rubs his face for a moment. "And Lo'Gosh?"

"He only formed over the past couple of years."

"Ah." He played with his lower lip, then sighed, almost relieved. "I'm glad you told me, Father."

Varian nodded slightly. "It didn't feel right, you not knowing." He looked up at his son. "It was only right for you to know."

"Do I look like Grandfather?"

Varian blinked. "What?"

Anduin looked down, embarassed by his outburst. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I just realized, with the reason that Vari came into being, it might have something to do with the fact that he calls me Papa. I know that's not what I was supposed to take away from you telling me that, but-"

"No, no, it's alright. It actually makes perfect sense. That's what I called him. Papa."

"I'm sorry."

Varian waved a hand dismissively. "Don't be. It was over thirty years ago. You never could have done anything."

"You know what I mean."

The former king smiled. "I know. And I'm sorry you had to have me die twice."

"Three times, if you count when you went missing."

"Don't push it."

Anduin stood, stretching his arms above his head. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Father."

"Goodnight."

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Animal (I Have Become)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14841845) by [emrys (livingshitpost)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/livingshitpost/pseuds/emrys)




End file.
